


Ways of Spending

by mechakucharumba



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-09
Updated: 2012-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-29 06:58:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechakucharumba/pseuds/mechakucharumba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Basil is far more suited to being an older sibling than Paprika will ever be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ways of Spending

**Author's Note:**

> Paprika and Basil have a really good sibling relationship, if only because it's not that perfect. Also because Rose and Paprika do not exist in a vacuum of lesbians--Madoka and Homura beat them on that one. Other characters and a scenario are actually around. :y

They find themselves debating with great frequency which of them should go to college.

“Running a mom and pop shop isn’t too conducive to putting your kids through school,” Basil notes, cranking down the volume on the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody” before Paprika can swat his hand away. 

“I’m too dumb for college,” she says, turning the knob back in the other direction.  “I mean, it’s not like you need a degree to write screenplays and stuff.”  She’s being unrealistic, even if she doesn’t realize it, and Basil sighs.

“Major in advertising and minor in film studies, then write ads until you can move onto TV shows or movies,” he suggests, giving up on easing his ‘90s music-induced suffering.  “I can stay here and run the place with mom and dad.”  ‘The place’ has been their private name for the tiny family restaurant since they were young, though it’s more his place than hers.

“Is that really okay?” Paprika asks, pulling up to the light that takes forever to change because the city’s never bothered to fix it.  “Like, d’you really wanna spend your whole life making spaghetti without sauce for that one really picky kid and standing outside every Halloween night in your crappy vampire costume to pick up chicks?”  She is completely sincere and about as serious as she can get; Basil just raises an eyebrow.

“Send some money my way when you write a less crappy version of ‘Glee’ that makes it big.”  This makes Paprika laugh, any gravity left in her head dissipating.  “And my vampire costume is most definitely not crappy.”

“That one’s up for debate, man,” she counters, the light turning green at last.  The song finally changes to something mildly more bearable, and when Basil makes no move to sabotage her quality morning soundtrack, Paprika gets the impression that they’ve just had a Moment. 

She guides her clunky old Beetle into the school parking lot, but before she turns it off, she asks him if this has, in fact, just been a Sibling Moment.

“The part where we talked about my humble aspirations in life, or the part where I made a subtle dig at Things That Never Happen to Real Teenagers: The Televised Musical that would send my social life to hell if I ever repeated it on Facebook?”

“The second bit was funnier,” Paprika says, which is more often than not the determining factor for her interest in any given thing.  She wonders if Basil would make a better older child when he responds with an overdramatic roll of the eyes, indicating that she’s a lost cause as far as he’s concerned.

“Your sidekick’s waiting,” he comments, pointing to Harper, currently seated on the front steps and wearing shorts in the dead of Ohio winter.

“Hey, being a superhero is a college-free career,” as they get out of the car and walk across the lot, “We could be, like, Lizardwoman and Static Shock Knockoff.”

“Stick to your day job,” is all Basil has to say on the matter.


End file.
